The NBA D-League held its annual slam dunk contest last Friday night in Phoenix, Arizona. The '09 incarnation brought us an epic battle between the Anaheim Arsenal's James White and the Tulsa 66ers' Keith Clark. You may remember James "Flight" White from his college days at Cincinnati, the high price paid for him on draft night, or his stint with the San Antonio Spurs in 2006-07. Clark, however, is not as well known. He decided to play in the D-League after being declared academically ineligible at Oklahoma. He is following the path of the Los Angeles Clippers' Mike Taylor and will be eligible for the 2009 NBA Draft -- which makes him of particular interest to us here at DraftExpress.
Also making its debut from the D-League Dunk Contest is a new type of video we're tentatively dubbing DX-Mo. Let us know what you think.
On Friday night, the D-League held their annual Dream Factory Friday Night where the three events were all won by D-League All-Stars with NBA experience.
Saturday night, Blake Ahearn had 13 points and 13 assists to lead the Red Team to a 113-103 victory over the Blue Team in the 2009 NBA D-League All-Star Game.
In a league that prides itself in developing players, no one player has shown as much improvement this season as NBA D-League All-Star James White of the Anaheim Arsenal. The 6’7” White is second in the league in scoring with 25.8 points per game and has scored 20 or more points in 21 consecutive games. White will be one of four players participating in the D-League's Slam-Dunk Contest on Friday night, as well as the D-League All-Star game on Saturday afternoon (NBA TV, 4 PM EST).
With the D-League Showcase now in the books, its time to take a step back and examine the performances of some of the more intriguing prospects in attendance. Some of the standouts from the week were known commodities, like Coby Karl, Derrick Byars and Alex Acker, while others, specifically Othyus Jeffers, were pleasant surprises.
